Our headline poet this month is Alan Gillis. Alan is a poet and critic, and is editor of Edinburgh Review. His most recent poetry collection is Here Comes the Night (2010), and he is currently completing its follow-up. His first collection, Somebody, Somewhere (2004), was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award, and won The Strong Award for best first collection in Ireland. His second, Hawks and Doves (2007), was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and The Queen’s University of Belfast, and was previously Lecturer in Irish Literature at The University of Ulster, and Research Fellow at The Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at The Queen’s University of Belfast.

It’s April this month, so that, of course, means that it’s time for our popular Open Night. We have a host of wonderful poets lined up to read their work, and we’re really excited to hear what they bring to the mic. As always, we’ve had a lot of interest, so all the slots are full, but there is the small possibility that one of our poets won’t be able to make it… so, come along with a poem in your pocket!

Because it’s Open Night this month, there’ll be no Shore Poets Wildcard slot. That’ll be back in May. But as always, we’ll have beautiful music from Becky Leach, Mairi McFadyen and Fiona Robinson. We very much hope you’ll join us!

The nights are drawing in, the clocks are going back (remember this, so you don’t arrive at Shore Poets an hour late!), it’s the season for winter woollies, pumpkin-flavoured everything… and of course, poetry. Head down to Henderson’s at St John’s to hear our fantastic October line-up…

Our headline poet this month is GERRY LOOSE. Gerry was recently selected to be one of the four Poets in Residence in Scotland’s Botanic Gardens as part of the Walking With Poets project. He was poet in residence at the Dawyck garden in September 2013. Much of his work has to do with gardens, plants and nature: he is the author of many books of poetry, most recently ‘the deer path to my door,’ and ‘that person himself,’ both 2009. He also writes in other genres and has received numerous awards for his creative work. You can find out more about Gerry at his website, gerryloose.com

It’s April this month, so that, of course, means that it’s time for our popular Open Night. We have a host of wonderful poets lined up to read their work, and we’re really excited to hear what they bring to the mic. As always, we’ve had a lot of interest, so all the slots are full, but there is the small possibility that one of our poets won’t be able to make it… so, come along with a poem in your pocket! (A poem in one’s pocket is always a good idea, we reckon!)

Perhaps most exciting of all, this month we’re turning our event into a fundraiser for the Young MacDonalds project. Set up by Jim Carruth, who read for us in October, and Scottish makar Liz Lochhead, the project aims to buy farmyards in Africa in order to give local farmers the means to support themselves and their families. As Jim says on his website, “It costs just £482 to provide enough to provide a farmer with livestock so that they can provide for their families. It’s not a lot now is it?”

The project has already raised over £3,500, but we’d love to them to be able to raise more and help as many struggling families as they can. You can donate directly at the Young MacDonalds JustGiving site, but you will also be able to donate, and contribute to our Young MacDonalds raffle, at our April event. We’ll be raffling off books, CDs, pamphlets and other goodies, as well as, of course, our famous lemon cake, and all proceeds will go directly to Young MacDonalds. So please, come along and bring as much generosity as your pockets can hold!

Because it’s Open Night this month, there’ll be no Shore Poets Wildcard slot. That’ll be back in May. But as always, we’ll have beautiful music and a warm, welcoming atmosphere. We very much hope you’ll join us.

Brian McCabe is a Scottish writer, tutor and editor. He has held a number of fellowships both in Scotland and abroad, most recently a residence at the University of Edinburgh. He has published three collections of short stories, one novel ‘The Other McCoy’ (1991), and five volumes of poetry. His ‘Selected Stories’ was published in 2003.

From 2004 to 2011, Brian was the editor of The Edinburgh Review. As a creative writing tutor, he has worked at the universities of Lancaster, St. Andrews and Edinburgh. You can find out more about Brian’s writing, and see a full list of his publications, here.

Our Shore Poet this month is Jane McKie. Jane has written two collections of poetry: Morocco Rococo (Cinnamon Press), which won the Sundial/Scottish Arts Council award for best first book of 2007, and When the Sun Turns Green (Polygon, 2009). In 2011 McKie won the inaugural Edwin Morgan poetry prize. She runs a small press, Knucker Press, that encourages collaboration between artists and poets, and currently teaches on the MSc in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh.

Our new poet is Camilla Chen. Camilla is currently studying History of Art and English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. She has performed her poetry in numerous places, and her success at the University of Edinburgh Literature Society Slams took her into the Scottish Poetry Slam Championship finals last year. She was also recently Highly Commended in the Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition.

To top things off, we’ll have traditional Scots songs from The Linties, our famous lemon cake raffle and of course, our Shore Poets Wildcard slot! Sign up on the door for a chance to read your poems on the night!

Just a quick reminder that this coming Sunday is Shore Poets January: come along and hear the wonderful words of Helena Nelson, Nick Brooks and Ian McDonough. There’ll also be live music from Button Ben!

We’re starting the new year with a bang this month at Shore Poets: January! Our headline reader is Helena Nelson.

As well as being a poet and critic, Helena also founded the wonderful Happenstance Press. Her two collections of poetry are Starlight on Water and Plot and Counter-plot. The former was joint winner of the Jerwood Aldeburgh Prize; the latter is her most recent collection, published by Shoestring Press in 2010. Helena has also self-published two short pamphlets of light verse.

I love reading and writing poetry. I enjoy light verse very much, as well as the heavier variety, and I specially favour lyrical, musical poetry. I can’t write to order: I have to wait until inspiration strikes, but after that I beat the poem into shape remorselessly. As an editor, I love talking to other writers about their work; I love the fascination of seeing a poet develop, grow in confidence and finally soar. I think being a good reader of poetry is just as important as writing well: that’s why I continue to review widely. And finally I think poets, like most other people, need to cultivate a sense of humour to stay sane. The themes I explore include love, loss, anorexia, fun, poetic personae.

It’s getting mighty cold outside these days, and it’s extremely tempting to stay wrapped up warm inside. But trust us, it’ll be worth venturing out on Sunday 25th November to see the fantastic trio of poets we’ve got lined up!

“Graham Fulton uses memory, observation, and invention to create a heady linguistic soup that uses poetry to make sense of the world; there’s compassion here, and anger, and a burning desire to illuminate places that don’t often get the poetic torch shone on them. Read and enjoy.”